Buy One Get One Free on Train Day

[Rafi]

Its 11:15 CDT and I just called Amtrak. She said I wouldn't be able to book it until 3am central time due to the west coast. Why 3am? Wouldn't it be 2am? The west coast is 2 hours behind us! Guess I'm gonna set the alarm and wake up at 2 am and see and then 3am and see. It better be forthright or I'm gonna be an unhappy camper. I have tried to book it online and its not working.
Al

Al,

Just spoke to reservations. The code does indeed go active at 12:01 AM PACIFIC, which translates to 2:01 AM central; I believe the rep you spoke with was misspeaking without realizing.

Now, the reservation agent I spoke with also confirmed something else that's very helpful to know about this code (she read the full terms to me over the phone, which were more extensive than what Amtrak posted on the website):

You can book a reservation over the phone NOW for May 10, have them hold it (don't pay yet), and call in at any time tomorrow to add the promo code. That way you lock in a cheap bucket and don't have to get online or call in and battle everyone else at 12:01 AM pacific time (she said they're expecting VERY long wait times on the phone).

-Rafi

 

[RailFanLNK]

Just woke up from a very blissful state of sleep to ..............................book my trip to DEN from LNK. Its 2:20am CDT. Is this insane or what?!? I just booked my trip for train day. 2 old guys, leaving LNK at 12:08am, sleeping forr 7 hours in coach, arriving DEN at 7:30am, hangin' with his son til 8pm and departing on the #6 back to LNK via coach. And now....going back upstairs, hoping I can get back to sleep before my alarm goes off for work in 4 1/2 hours.......My name is Al ....and I'm an Amtrakaholic!

 

[amtrakwolverine]

Just woke up from a very blissful state of sleep to ..............................book my trip to DEN from LNK. Its 2:20am CDT. Is this insane or what?!? I just booked my trip for train day. 2 old guys, leaving LNK at 12:08am, sleeping forr 7 hours in coach, arriving DEN at 7:30am, hangin' with his son til 8pm and departing on the #6 back to LNK via coach. And now....going back upstairs, hoping I can get back to sleep before my alarm goes off for work in 4 1/2 hours.......My name is Al ....and I'm an Amtrakaholic!

*all the members together* WELCOME AL* LOL

 

[GregL]

Just woke up from a very blissful state of sleep to ..............................book my trip to DEN from LNK. Its 2:20am CDT. Is this insane or what?!? I just booked my trip for train day. 2 old guys, leaving LNK at 12:08am, sleeping forr 7 hours in coach, arriving DEN at 7:30am, hangin' with his son til 8pm and departing on the #6 back to LNK via coach. And now....going back upstairs, hoping I can get back to sleep before my alarm goes off for work in 4 1/2 hours.......My name is Al ....and I'm an Amtrakaholic!

*all the members together* WELCOME AL* LOL

What is really insane, is I'm reading this at 3:20am. Of course I'm at work! Have fun!! :blink:

GregL

 

[Rafi]

Just woke up from a very blissful state of sleep to ..............................book my trip to DEN from LNK. Its 2:20am CDT. Is this insane or what?!? I just booked my trip for train day. 2 old guys, leaving LNK at 12:08am, sleeping forr 7 hours in coach, arriving DEN at 7:30am, hangin' with his son til 8pm and departing on the #6 back to LNK via coach. And now....going back upstairs, hoping I can get back to sleep before my alarm goes off for work in 4 1/2 hours.......My name is Al ....and I'm an Amtrakaholic!

*all the members together* WELCOME AL* LOL

What is really insane, is I'm reading this at 3:20am. Of course I'm at work! Have fun!! :blink:

GregL

I hesitate to mention this, at the risk of some very jealous fellow forum members, but something very strange and beneficial happened to my train day reservation...

I called in last night (before 3 AM Pacific) and booked the lowest bucket fare between Baltimore and New York for two people. As I mentioned in a previous post, I spoke with the reservation agent about the terms of the train day promo, and she informed me that I could just call in at any time on April 4 to apply the promo code to the already-existing reservation. So sure enough, I woke up this morning and called Amtrak, and lo and behold, the promo code had ALREADY been applied to the reservation (in fact, it created a new reservation number). Now, the agent I spoke with this morning didn't know if the computer automatically applied the code at 3:01 AM as a matter of course, or if the agent I spoke with last night was nice enough to do it for me. Regardless, whatever it was, it made the entire booking process quite painless for me!

Rafi

 

[RailFanLNK]

Here I sit all bleary eyed and everything, but it wasn't much more different than the time I take scanning the AGR mall for the latest "bonus" points and what I really need to purchase that wouldn't be sitting around my house with people saying, "Al, why did you purchase the pink polka dot coffee table and 1950's beautician hair dryer and chair?" With my reply being, "cuz I got it from the AGR mall and was allocated 15,000 bonus points to my AGR account!" I'm looking forward to my trip. Now everyone cross their fingers that all of our trains will be on time or dang near it and that all the folks who are Amtrak virgins (like my friend) will have an enjoyable enough time to go, "you know, this makes so much more sense than driving my F-1050 3MPG pickup truck to see Jr, Grandma, mom or dad and spending more on wear and tear and gas then hoppin' on a train!"

 

[jackal]

You can book a reservation over the phone NOW for May 10, have them hold it (don't pay yet), and call in at any time tomorrow to add the promo code. That way you lock in a cheap bucket and don't have to get online or call in and battle everyone else at 12:01 AM pacific time (she said they're expecting VERY long wait times on the phone).

Won't they recalculate the fare when the promo code is applied or even when payment is taken? I've never booked via phone (so I've always paid at the time of booking online), but when I called Julie recently to test out the phone booking process for another reason, the policy that she, er, read to me was that the price would only be guaranteed if I paid "during this phone call," and that "fares may change at any time until the fare is purchased." That implies that holding a reservation doesn't lock in any bucket, it just guarantees you a spot on that train.

It'd be nice if I were wrong, though...

 

[AlanB]

You can book a reservation over the phone NOW for May 10, have them hold it (don't pay yet), and call in at any time tomorrow to add the promo code. That way you lock in a cheap bucket and don't have to get online or call in and battle everyone else at 12:01 AM pacific time (she said they're expecting VERY long wait times on the phone).

Won't they recalculate the fare when the promo code is applied or even when payment is taken? I've never booked via phone (so I've always paid at the time of booking online), but when I called Julie recently to test out the phone booking process for another reason, the policy that she, er, read to me was that the price would only be guaranteed if I paid "during this phone call," and that "fares may change at any time until the fare is purchased." That implies that holding a reservation doesn't lock in any bucket, it just guarantees you a spot on that train.

It'd be nice if I were wrong, though...

AFAIK, Julie operates under the same principals and rules as does the web based system. Only a live agent can make a reservation that guarantees the price, but doesn't require an immediate payment. And even then, you usually never get more than a week to pay for that reservation before it cancels automatically. On certain routes, like the NEC, you may not even get a week before the cancel date.

 

[jackal]

You can book a reservation over the phone NOW for May 10, have them hold it (don't pay yet), and call in at any time tomorrow to add the promo code. That way you lock in a cheap bucket and don't have to get online or call in and battle everyone else at 12:01 AM pacific time (she said they're expecting VERY long wait times on the phone).

Won't they recalculate the fare when the promo code is applied or even when payment is taken? I've never booked via phone (so I've always paid at the time of booking online), but when I called Julie recently to test out the phone booking process for another reason, the policy that she, er, read to me was that the price would only be guaranteed if I paid "during this phone call," and that "fares may change at any time until the fare is purchased." That implies that holding a reservation doesn't lock in any bucket, it just guarantees you a spot on that train.

It'd be nice if I were wrong, though...

AFAIK, Julie operates under the same principals and rules as does the web based system. Only a live agent can make a reservation that guarantees the price, but doesn't require an immediate payment. And even then, you usually never get more than a week to pay for that reservation before it cancels automatically. On certain routes, like the NEC, you may not even get a week before the cancel date.

Well, here's my experience: I called Julie and went through the booking process to test out whether codes could be input via her, and I did a test booking between two RI stations on a Regional train. All she asked me for was a phone number and she spat out a confirmation number, and then she asked if I would like to pay for it. When I said no, she said I would have to purchase by xxx date (one week from that day, I noticed), and then re-warned me about prices changing. (She also never asked me for a discount code; when she asked me if I had any discounts and I said yes, she asked whether I had AAA or Student Advantage--she never gave me the choice to enter a code.)

Don't know if my experience was abnormal or something...

 

[the_traveler]

My name is Dave ... and I am just an occasional Amtrakaholic! :lol: (I didn't wake up at 3:01 AM EDT!)

I booked THREE (3) sets of cheap and fast round trips this morning between 9 AM and 10 AM EDT! I thought for sure they would be sold out by 4 AM! (I guess not, and I am glad!)

I'm also surprised the fares were in (or at least seemed to be in) a lower bucket. They were mostly the same low fare as yesterday. Sure, some were in a higher bucket, but 70-80% were in a lower bucket.

 

[RailFanLNK]

I was casually talking to the guy at work who is going to go with me on his first Amtrak trip to DEN on this promo when another delivery driver I told about it seemed somewhat interested. Today, he looked me up and the guy and his girlfriend are going to go. They have always wanted to take Amtrak somewhere and with the free companion ticket, it makes it really affordable. So, I finally got another person to try it out and that makes 3 of 4 Amtrak rookies on this trip on May 10th. I have offered to pick everyone up since they don't know about parking etc. Also, I had a friend who booked a HUGE first trip and took that trip in mid-March. He took his wife, son and his son's girlfriend from LNK-CHI-SEA-SAC-LNK. First time ever on Amtrak and they LOVED it! Brenda and I took an evening out of our busy schedule and went to his house with his family there and explained as much about Amtrak as we could. He told me he was very grateful for the info we showed him on how to pack, what to expect, not to expect etc! So, I'm spreadin' the word....are YOU!

 

[Cascadia]

I was casually talking to the guy at work who is going to go with me on his first Amtrak trip to DEN on this promo when another delivery driver I told about it seemed somewhat interested. Today, he looked me up and the guy and his girlfriend are going to go. They have always wanted to take Amtrak somewhere and with the free companion ticket, it makes it really affordable. So, I finally got another person to try it out and that makes 3 of 4 Amtrak rookies on this trip on May 10th. I have offered to pick everyone up since they don't know about parking etc. Also, I had a friend who booked a HUGE first trip and took that trip in mid-March. He took his wife, son and his son's girlfriend from LNK-CHI-SEA-SAC-LNK. First time ever on Amtrak and they LOVED it! Brenda and I took an evening out of our busy schedule and went to his house with his family there and explained as much about Amtrak as we could. He told me he was very grateful for the info we showed him on how to pack, what to expect, not to expect etc! So, I'm spreadin' the word....are YOU!

Wow your friends who took that CZ-EB-CS-CZ trip really picked a cool trip for their first trip! I would love to do something very similar!

I am afraid though that the other guy at work who wanted to travel for the cheap deal on Train Day is going to be disappointed, because weren't those 2 for 1 tickets only on sale for one day - April 4th? Or did I get that mixed up? I wish they would go anyway, even if the companion fare wasn't in effect. (edit to add: Now I re-read your post, maybe they already got their tickets!?)

It is cool you are introducing people to train travel, they should feel lucky to live in a town that has Amtrak service, so many places don't. And you guys live on such a great route!

 

[Crescent ATN & TCL]

Is train day going to become an annual occurrence or is this just a one time thing?

 

[RailFanLNK]

My buddy at work had his girlfriend call that day so they got tickets and all. I just put a ton of info in his cubbie at work with Amtrak "tips" on it taken from this forum and On Track On Line. He's excited and I told him not to expect things to be "on time" and will guide him and the friend I"m taking on thier first ever trip. I hope it becomes a yearly deal and during baseball season. If only the Colorado Rockies were playing that day in Denver. Denver Union Station is right next door to the baseball field. It would make it so simple to go.

 

[AlanB]

Is train day going to become an annual occurrence or is this just a one time thing?

I would assume that the plan/hope is to make it an annual occurance. But that probably also rests on the first one being considered at least a moderate success. If it fails, don't expect to see it back next year.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I hope it succeeds. Amtrak travel isn't for everybody, but if they manage to get a few people to blow raspberries at the airlines each year, it will help their cause.

 

[Cascadia]

My buddy at work had his girlfriend call that day so they got tickets and all. I just put a ton of info in his cubbie at work with Amtrak "tips" on it taken from this forum and On Track On Line. He's excited and I told him not to expect things to be "on time" and will guide him and the friend I"m taking on thier first ever trip. I hope it becomes a yearly deal and during baseball season. If only the Colorado Rockies were playing that day in Denver. Denver Union Station is right next door to the baseball field. It would make it so simple to go.

Oh, that would be fun to take a train to a baseball game. People here do it quite a bit, take the train to Seattle for Mariners games. That must be a lot better than fighting traffic in and out of Seattle.

 

[The Metropolitan]

I was just over at CNN.com reading articles about the whole FAA inspection mess going on right now, and all the cancelled flights.

And there, in the right side border column, is a colorful ad saying "Get Your Choo-Choo On - National Train Day is May 10th!"

It seems that at least someone in Amtrak's marketing department would like to blow a few of those raspberries at the airlines!

 

[Galls]

I just saw an ad for it on CNN, it was only Acela and North East Corridor though.

 

[Mike S.]

Add three more to the mix. My parents and I are taking a short trip from BUF to SYR to BUF on May 10th. They booked with promo and I didn't since I was #3. Its seemed foolish to take up a 4th seat just b/c it was free.

Looking forward to it.

I think trains are going to be packed on May 10th